


The Way Back Home

by coffeeincluded



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And super satisfying if you got to beat the living daylights out of her father, Attempted Kidnapping, Bonus points if she got to chop up that damn chair afterwards, Gen, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Rescue, Suicidal Thoughts, Team as Family, This would have been an interesting paralogue, What if Bernadetta got kidnapped?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:41:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23388277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeeincluded/pseuds/coffeeincluded
Summary: Bernadetta really should have seen this coming. Ingrid's former suitor was still out there, and her father didn't care about how much money that blood was soaked in, or what he would do to her after those forced vows.She never realized just how many people cared for her.
Relationships: Bernadetta von Varley & Hubert von Vestra, Caspar von Bergliez & Bernadetta von Varley, Dorothea Arnault & Bernadetta von Varley, Edelgard von Hresvelg & Bernadetta von Varley, Ferdinand von Aegir & Bernadetta von Varley, Linhardt von Hevring & Bernadetta von Varley, My Unit | Byleth & Bernadetta von Varley, Petra Macneary & Bernadetta von Varley
Comments: 4
Kudos: 81
Collections: Those Who Drabble in the Dark





	The Way Back Home

**Author's Note:**

> For this week's Felannie prompt: Homecomings! Didn't have to say what kind.
> 
> And yes, this is over the 200-600 word limit. I'm sorry; I already had to cut the ending a bit short. I hope you enjoy?
> 
> CONTENT WARNING: Very brief mention of suicidal thoughts.

“Oh Bernie...You really should have seen this coming.”

She should have. She was there when Dorothea had helped expose Ingrid’s suitor, knew just the kind of man he was. Of course he would have just moved onto the next available noble girl, one whose parents were greedy enough to not be hampered by morals, or a conscience. 

They’d kidnapped her in the middle of the night, when she was in a hidden-away corner of the monastery, painting. Oh, why did she have to be such a recluse! She doubted anybody even noticed that she was gone. And now here Bernie was, back in her room overlooking the forests of Varley territory, with her beloved plants gone and a bridal dress hanging in their place. The moonlight from the window made the white gossamer fabric look like a ghost, or a funeral shroud. 

This was it. A taste of freedom, a few blessed months, that she wasted in her room. And now she was going to...her father would…

Bernadetta looked at the window, down at the garden below. Too high to land safely, too low to die on impact. And now she knew just how much a broken bone would hurt. Oh, what was the point? They’d just catch her, and drag her to the suitor, and they’d make her limp down the aisle, and  _ he _ wouldn’t care, and that would be it for Bernie.

But...she knew how to bind a broken leg now. She could hobble, and could use a bow, and…

Bernadetta curled her fingers around the windowsill with a sudden resolve. No! It wasn’t going to end like this! Garreg Mach was good for something else. She had learned a lot of things that she wouldn’t have back in her room. Like how to run past the two men guarding her door. Like how to steal their weapons while doing so. Like...the sound of gauntlets against flesh and bone? 

The hallway opened onto a long balcony, which overlooked the main foyer of Varley Manor, which was currently in complete chaos. A guard slumped on the wall next to her, his chest scorched from what could only be a Thoron blast. Another one of her father’s henchmen ran yelling towards her, but was stopped mid-step by a figure vaulting over the balcony. Petra threw the man over the railing, and her murderous gaze broke into relief at the sight of Bernadetta. 

“Bernadetta, you are safe! Come, we are breaking you out of here!” A cheer of several familiar voices broke out, and, heart surging in disbelief, Bernadetta looked down over the railing. 

Edelgard, Ferdinand, and Professor Byleth cut down her father’s cronies, incandescent rage carved into their faces. Dorothea, if anything, was even more furious, blasting down anyone who wise enough to not engage in melee while simultaneously screaming, “You fucking bastard, you will  _ never _ hurt Bern ever again!” at…

...Her father, sprawled out on the ground, Caspar on his chest pummeling him. Linhardt said something Bernadetta couldn’t quite catch, but Caspar nodded and punched somewhere else. Bernadetta heard her father grunt, heard things crackle. 

She watched, awful satisfaction flickering in her chest, as Hubert pulled her father to his feet, hissed, “My my, you’ve been rather naughty with finances, haven’t you Count Varley,” and pushed him into Ferdinand’s iron grip. Petra gently guided a still-disbelieving Bernadetta down the stairs. 

“Bern! Oh thank Flames, you’re alright!” Dorothea, and Caspar, and everyone else ran forward, but oh thank the Goddess the Professor held up a hand and they stopped. But they were all there. Her classmates, they were all there, and…

“You...you came back for me?”

“You’re our classmate and friend, Bernadetta,” Edelgard said, the fire still in her eyes. “The moment Professor Byleth noticed you were gone she got all of us.”

“We would never allow such a vile monster to take you from us!” Ferdinand added, twisting her father's arm until he fell silent. “I am only sorry that we did not know about this sooner. I hope you can forgive our horrifying ignorance”

“I...You guys…” Some dam broke deep inside Bernadetta, some wonderful swelling feeling that even she with her expansive unwomanly (but she would never hear that insult, never again) vocabulary could not name. Something she could not sum up beyond,  _ I’m home. _

**Author's Note:**

> Don't worry, Bernie's dad will get the beating he deserves in my fic, at some point. And yes Bernie will get fifteen minutes alone in a room with an axe and that damn chair.
> 
> Honestly though it would be an incredibly emotionally wrought and satisfying paralogue. Bernie gets kidnapped for the above reasons, and the paralogue starts with her in her room upstairs and everyone else in the atrium of the Varley Manor, with of course Count Varley as the boss. Goal is sort of like the Annette and Gilbert paralogue in that you need to reunite with Bernie and defeat the commander, except that Count Varley is in between Bernie and the rest of the Eagles, not off to the side like in the Annette and Gilbert paralogue. Things are a lot easier if Bernie unlocked her riding hidden talent and learned Pass. And of course it ends with Edelgard and other Eagles learning about Bernie's past.
> 
> Thank you all for being patient, especially in these troubling times. I'm working on the next chapter; goal is to have it up April 1. I'm an essential worker; if anything I'm working even more now, but nothing like the doctors and nurses and everyone working the human side of health care. If you can, send them food. Trust me on that. 
> 
> Please stay safe out there, everyone.


End file.
